It's a tank redesigned from the ground up with lessons from the Ukraine war in mind.
In many ways, this makes it a tank of the future, including artificial intelligence,
enhanced sensors, and the ability to defeat the same Javelin and NLAW missiles that have been
savaging Russia's tank fleet. It's the AbramsX, a huge evolutionary leap forward from the venerable
stalwart tank design of the US Army- but it might be so revolutionary that the army won't buy it.
In 1979 the first M1 Abrams was revealed to great fanfare. It was replacing the M60,
a Cold War stalwart, and meant to go toe-to-toe with Soviet tanks,
who were slowly but surely gaining the upper hand. It's designers were confident
the Abrams could defeat the best the Soviets could throw at it, but nobody was sure this
risky redesign of traditional American tanks would really be up to the task.
Then in 1991 the Abrams got to show the world just how it would
have handled itself in a winner-take-all battle for Europe. Taking on hordes of
Soviet-built main battle tanks in the hands of veteran Iraqi crews,
the Abrams absolutely eviscerated the competition, with the only losses being
due to friendly fire. It was clear that the United States had won the tank competition.
But that was forty years ago, and now the US faces new threats. That's why General Dymamics believes
that it's time for a drastic redesign of this American classic, but the US Army isn't convinced.
Current Abrams feature a 120-millimeter main gun that can fire datalinked ammunition,
depleted uranium armor in combination with highly classified British chobham armor,
thermal sights, a fire computer to help the crew hit targets even at full speed on bumpy terrain,
a networked capability to help it communicate with other friendly assets,
and finally the Trophy active protection system to allow it to defeat enemy anti-tank missiles.
The AbramsX builds on these strengths and then enhances them.
First is the new gun. While it's still a 120mm cannon, the new gun spotted on a General Dynamics
technology demonstrator is the XM360, a cannon originally developed in the early 2000s for the
Army's Future Combat Systems. This program was meant to catapult the US army into a new
era of technological domination, but after 18 billion spent the program failed to produce a
single working combat vehicle. However, while the FCS was an abject failure as a whole,
it produced a great deal of successes and taught the army many lessons.
The XM360 cannon is one of these breakthroughs. While it and the current M256 cannon both share
the same ammunition and have roughly the same firing characteristics, the XM360 is much lighter
thanks to the use of titanium and composites. That might not seem like a big upgrade, but when you're
talking about gas-guzzling, fuel-hungry vehicles that weigh over 60 tons, every single pound shed
means enhanced mobility, endurance, and speed. You're going to hear this a lot in this episode,
because the AbramsX is so new and top secret that details are extremely scarce, but other
performance upgrades that this new cannon uses are unsurprisingly classified. However, we expect that
this new cannon will provide the ability to use all sorts of new datalinked ammo types, though an
Abrams won't be shooting anti-tank missiles out of its barrel anytime soon like some Russian designs.
When your cannon is as lethal as an Abrams', you don't need fancy missiles to wreck targets.
Weight is a big deal with modern main battle tanks, and the M1 Abrams has been putting on
weight like a pro heavyweight fighter in intense training. When it first came out of development,
the Abrams weighed a bulky 60 tons. However, after a slew of upgrades including new engines,
depleted uranium armor, and enhanced survivability packages for urban combat,
the Abrams was starting to look like it'd been going too hard on its heavyweight
diet. Clocking in at 73.6 tons, the Army has serious concerns about how current
Abrams would fare in combat today- bridge crossings are especially concerning as this
much weight puts the Abrams out of the safety limit for many civilian bridge infrastructure.
It's increasingly looking like current Abrams should learn how to swim or will have to rely
on engineers to build them bridges, a dicey proposition- just ask the Russians in Ukraine.
The AbramsX is purported to have dramatically cut the weight of this mighty war machine,
though how and where remains classified. Returning to its roots, the AbramsX is back at its fighting
weight of 60 tons without losing any of its current capabilities. Reduced weight in the
cannon and the use of composites elsewhere is largely to thank for this engineering feat,
but other weight-cutting measures remain to be disclosed- and probably will never be.
Reduced crew might be a reason for lower weight, as the AbramsX features the first
American 3-crew design. The Soviets initially designed auto-loaders for their tanks at the
start of the Cold War, and this promised to relieve the logistical burden of an extra crew
member. However, American observers noticed that the autoloaders experienced frequent
breakdowns and other technical problems, thus giving America a serious distaste for them.
Despite the fact that many modern tanks such as the Leopard 2, Japanese Type 10, and South
Korean K2 all feature auto-loaders, the US Army isn't convinced that this is the right call.
They prefer the good old human auto-loader, who cannot jam or experience any other mechanical or
electrical malfunction. Plus, human auto-loaders tend to provide for a higher rate of fire, though
after loading a dozen or more heavy tank shells the human is going to eventually get worn out.
There's practical reasons for the Abrams to retain a fourth crew member though. In case of a track
being thrown, the crew has to get out and perform a fix themselves. With tracks weighing hundreds of
pounds, that extra pair of hands is a huge help. This also applies for other regular maintenance
which a fourth person really helps with. In case the tank breaks down in hostile territory,
a fourth crew member can help provide added security to the stricken tank.
But the AbramsX is going European with the introduction of an auto-loader. It promises
to provide the same rate of fire as a human loader with increased reliability. It also
has one other huge benefit- the crew has been removed from the turret and placed inside of the
hull itself. This is a dramatic improvement for crew survivability as the armor in the hull is
thicker and more difficult to penetrate, while in current designs part of the crew is in the turret
itself. The new Abrams features three crew hatches at the front of the tank, allowing the entire crew
to exit in case of an emergency and removing a fundamental weak point of current Abrams design,
as the hatch is a significant weak spot in the already weaker top armor.
The US Army remains skeptical however.
The turret does feature one significant upgrade over the Abrams though, and thats' the inclusion
of a 30 millimeter chain gun to replace the traditional .50 caliber machine gun operated
by the commander, and the loader's M240 7.62 mm machine gun. Here too the army is split,
as this is both an upgrade and a downgrade. Built with lessons from Ukraine in mind,
the XM914 30mm chain gun fires at blistering speeds and is designed to take on everything
from lightly armored vehicles like the Rusian BMP 3, to drones and other low flying vehicles.
This allows the tank to save its main gun ammo for thicker-skinned targets like enemy tanks.
But it also means that there's one less machine gun protecting the tank from enemy infantry. If
the AbramsX does ever make it into production, don't be surprised if the Army demands that the
7.62mm machien gun be put back on the vehicle. A serious upgrade though that the Army can't
complain about is the remote control technology that allows the 30mm chain gun to be controlled
from the safety of the tank's interior. Current machine guns on the Abrams require
an operator to have half their body hanging out of the tank, an obvious risk in a hectic
battlefield. From the safety of the tank's thick armored hull though, the crew can use
a variety of vision modes including thermal to fire the chain gun and obliterate enemy threats.
Perhaps the biggest visible change that the AbramsX brings to the table, and one the Army
is enticed by, is the new hybrid electric/diesel engine. Current Abrams use a gasoline engine,
and it is an absolute gas-guzzling monster, consuming just over 1 gallon per mile traveled.
The range of an M1 today is around 275 miles, meaning that America's tanks have to be closely
followed by logistical support which makes for a very tempting target. However, the AbramsX
promises 50% enhanced fuel efficiency, and the switch to diesel is seriously attractive to the
Army given that the rest of its vehicle fleet also relies on diesel. This would significantly reduced
logistical strain and costs, as the entire army fleet could share just one fuel type.
The new engine also comes with new battery packs that will hold a classified level
of charge. General Dynamics has promised that the AbramsX will be able to operate in silent,
battery powered mode while stationary. This will allow the tank to run its full suite of sensors
and sights without cranking up the engine, thus presenting an even more obvious target to the
enemy's heat seeking missiles and drones. However, a big change is a hinted at possibility that the
AbramsX will have some limited mobility while in battery mode. This means that the biggest,
baddest tank in the world could transform into a ninja for short amounts of time.
Other than armor, few things about the AbramsX are classified as its new artifical intelligence
technologies. General Dynamics has not released many details, but says that the
tank's AI suite will be able to assist crews by identifying targets for them amidst the chaos
of a battlefield. Using advanced algorithms, the tank will be able to detect enemy vehicles
and classify them as threats or non-threats, even the type of vehicle despite rain, snow,
smoke, or thick fog. It'll then suggest ammo type and a firing solution for the commander,
though it will be the commander who makes the final call. Despite fears,
the AbramsX is not going to take over the world if its AI goes rogue. At least for now.
As seen in the war in Ukraine, modern tanks are incredibly vulnerable to both
drones and advanced anti-tank missiles such as Javelin and NLAW. That's why the
AbramsX is built from the ground up with this threat in mind. Many have observed
the truly apocalyptic scale of losses amongst Russian armored forces and wondered if there
was any future for tanks anymore. However, the AbramsX's active protection system will
allow it to blast incoming rockets and missiles, allegedly providing the tank
protection even from weapons like America's own Javelin which has mauled Russian tanks.
And if the tank does take a significant hit, American tank crews won't have to worry about
competing with their Russian counterparts in the turret tossing olympics. Russia
will retain the gold medal in turret tossing for the foreseeable future,
with their tanks achieving some truly Skyrim Space Program-worthy heights. The reason so many Russian
tanks are built as both tank and aircraft is because the Russians decided to have the tank's
ammunition ring the entire turret. Thus when the tank takes an even moderate hit to the turret,
all of the ammo goes off and sends the turret into orbit while incinerating the crew.
America likes its soldiers to be soldiers and not astronauts, so Abrams tanks have always kept the
ammo in a separate compartment with the inclusion of blowout panels. The AbramsX has been spotted
with what appears to be a blowout panel atop the turret, continuing the proud Western tradition of
not having your tank send your entire crew into space from one RPG hit to the turret.
Details may be scarce, but the AbramsX already looks set to be a significant starting place for a
big leap forward in American tank design. However, it faces significant challenges even just getting
funded, as the Army is already displeased with some of its basic design elements like the loss
of a fourth crew member. However, the biggest barrier standing in the AbramsX's way is the
fact that the United States military does not currently face a serious land threat. Instead,
it looks like its next war will be against China, and a Sino-American war will take place at sea
and in the air. US tank crews are extremely unlikely to see any action in such a war,
and thus funding priorities for a new battle tank remain incredibly low.
Now go check out Hitler's Insane 1000 ton war machine, or click this other video instead!